Photographer's Note

Given the appreciative comments made about my posting yesterday (Kuala Lumpur sunrise) I thought you might be interested to see this closer perspective of the Kuala Lumpur skyline. I know there have been dozens of TrekEarth postings of the Petronas Towers (which were the tallest buildings in the world until they were overtaken by Taipei’s 101 building last year) but I doubt many have seen the Petronas Towers with a gold sheen like this. The towers are actually silver in colour (they are clad entirely in stainless steel) but on one day in November 1998, just before sunset, there was a big storm rolling in from the east (this shot is looking east – hence the dark colour of the sky) but the sun was still shining through the clouds in the west (behind the camera) and for just a few minutes the towers took on this amazing gold sheen from the reflection of the setting sun. This photograph was taken from the apartment where I was living from 1998 to 2003, and never again in those five years did I see the towers looking like this. For me this was one of my best ‘decisive moments’ in photography. I apologise for the quality of this photograph, but after seven years in Malaysia’s heat and humidity, my negatives from those early years have deteriorated considerably. I scanned this from the negative using the digital ICE program on my Nikon film scanner to clean up the dirt, put it through Neat Image to remove as much of the remaining noise as possible, and then sharpened it in Photoshop. There was no other post processing. This is as sharp as I could get it given the quality of the negative.

once again a beautiful shot from malaysia, the colors given by the sunset light on the towers is a,azing, even if the negatives have lost their quality. Thanks for sharing a so rare and decisive moment with this detailed note.
regards,
Michael

David, your capture of my favorite building is excellent. As you know, as more building go up alongside the towers is is increasingly tricky to get a good view from top to base.
The colours you have captured do it justice. Thanks.

I have seen typical shots of the Petronas Tower and this image is one of the best I've seen. Capturing it in such rare moment makes it very unique.

I'm now here in Kuala Lumpur for business and I just saw the Petronas Tower and man...I'm blasted! It's graceful lines and shimmer (day&night) makes it not only the tallest twin towers but the most beautiful as well. Fantastic and great feeling seeing this image in such beutiful captured shot!